RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Brennan Armstrong piled up 303 yards of total offense and North Carolina State routed VMI 45-7 on Saturday afternoon.

Armstrong led N.C. State (2-1) by completing 27-of-32 passes (84%) for 264 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 39 yards on six carries. His completion percentage was a career-high mark for the sixth-year quarterback when attempting at least 11 passes in a game.

“It feels good. This game was kind of our bounce-back game after coming off a loss against Notre Dame, not playing really well, especially offensively,” Armstrong said. “This was a great game for us, to just get back on track and play efficient.”

After forcing the Keydets (1-2) to a three-and-out to start, N.C. State got on the scoreboard with a 12-play, 58-yard drive that ended with the first of two rushing touchdowns from Delbert Mimms. About a minute later, the Wolfpack scored again when fifth-year defensive back Robert Kennedy picked off an errant VMI pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.

Those scores led to a 31-point Wolfpack scoring run before VMI responded in the third quarter, with Collin Shannon finding Egypt Nelson for a 22-yard touchdown pass. Nelson proved to be a thorn in the Wolfpack’s defense with 107 yards receiving on three receptions.

N.C. State countered as sophomore Julian Gray ran back the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for the first touchdown of his collegiate career.

“(N.C. State) kind of put us in a place early that we were just having to play catch-up, and it was uphill the whole stinking game,” first-year VMI coach Danny Rocco said. “So, that was difficult, and certainly not the way we wanted this thing to play out.”

Rocco didn’t play quarterback Collin Ironside, who had started VMI’s previous two games. Rocco said he practiced “minimally” this past week and it was “in his best interest to not play” against N.C. State.